Five Minute Felt Gift Bag Tutorial

It's Day 16 of...

Need a quick gift for someone?  Have five minutes?  Here is a tutorial for a quick, inexpensive gift option.  It's the tutorial for the felt gift bag that I posted yesterday.

Supplies:

*Sewing machine

*Basic sewing supplies (thread, pins, scissors...)

*Scraps of Felt

*1 sheet of computer paper (8 1/2 in. by 11 in.)

*Candy

Directions:

1. Fold your sheet of paper in half horizontally.  Cut along the crease.  This will serve as your pattern.

 2. Use your pattern to cut out a piece of felt.  Fold the piece of felt in half so that the shorter ends meet at the top and the folded edge is at the bottom.

 

3. Sew along the two shorter sides of the folded piece of felt.  (Tip: I used a 1/4 in. seam allowance.)

 4. Use your pinking shears to cut along all the edges of the gift bag excluding the folded edge at the bottom.

5. Fold the top of the felt gift bag over towards you.  (Tip: The folded part measures 3/4 in.)  

6. Using a 1/4 in. seam allowance, sew a seam along the top of the bag.  (Tip:  This part can be a little tricky if your bag won't fit over your sewing machine.  I had to just maneuver the felt where I was only sewing through one side of the bag.)  Sew a second seam along the bottom of the folded part leaving an inch gap at one of the side seams.

7. Use a safety pin to thread a piece of ribbon through the one inch opening and down through the middle of the two seams you just sewed.  Pull the ribbon out through the other side.  Tie a triple knot in each end.  Snip off the excess and use thread end glue to finish off the end of the ribbon in order to prevent it from fraying.

8. Stuff your gift bag with candy and attach a "sweet" message.

 9. Give it away to someone who could use a little chocolate this Christmas.  Couldn't we all?!